Radu Jude

The feature Aferim!, directed by Radu Jude, was designated the great winner of the IndieLisboa International Film Festival.

Film director Radu Jude
Photo credit: (c) Sorin LUPSA / AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The first film selected, 'Comoara' ('The Treasure') is directed by director Corneliu Porumboiu, who in 2006 won Cannes' Golden Camera prize for best first film with his '12:08 East of Bucharest' feature.

The movie stars both professional and amateur actors, focusing on two men who have surprising adventures as they attempt to find treasure.

I believe that this film would have functioned pretty much of the same manner if we did it as a colour or sepia film, instead of making it black&white, film director Radu Jude said after the first premiere dedicated to the critics and media of his "Aferim!" film, for which he received the Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival.

Radu Jude won the award for his historical drama "Aferim!", the story of the hunt for a runaway Roma slave in the 19th century.

The film highlights the cruelty and deep-rooted prejudices that were rife at the time, when people from Romania's Roma minority were kept as slaves by monasteries and local overlords.

Director Radu Jude received the Silver Bear for "Aferim!", at the Berlinale 2015 Film Festival, on Saturday evening.

Photo: (c) Luo Huanhuan / Xinhua Flux

"If I knew I would win such a prize, I would have been more serious when shooting it," Radu Jude said on the Berlinale stage.